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HellerstedtWiiWilliam ShatnerWindows 9WirelessRefill.ComWolfram AlfaWorld Wildlife FundWyomingYahooYouGovYuwieZemantaZenwise ResveratrolZenwise Sleep Supportadvertisinganarchismarbitrationballot accessblackoutbookschild molestationchild pornographycigarettescivil libertiescongressional paycorporate welfarecorruptioncurationcuration layercyber securitycyclingdenturese-goldeBayeGo-Tearlyvotingemail contact operationsexercisefitness goalsfoodforeign policygamblinggoldhealthiPadmethamphetaminemonetizationmoney-making opportunitiesmortgage crisisnewsletterpetitionsplagiarismpolitical partiespolitical prisonerspsychologyreal estaterestaurantsscamssequestershavingsilversmokingsolar powersore loserspace shuttlesurveyssync servicesterrorismtorturetuberculosisvote fraudvoter fraudwarweb hostingweb ringwhiskeywind powerKN@PPSTER<center>There are two kinds of fools: One says, "This is old, therefore it is good;" the other says, "This is new, therefore it is better." -- Dean Inge</center>http://knappster.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)Blogger3593125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-7370727224670505469Thu, 17 Aug 2017 14:16:00 +00002017-08-17T10:16:26.571-04:00Three Things (or, WTF, @jaxx_io?)<b>Thing One:</b> On July 29, Jaxx released a <a href="http://decentral.ca/jaxx-statement-bitcoin-cash-bch/" target="_blank">"Statement on Bitcoin Cash"</a> via the Decentral Blog. Money quote:<br /><br /><blockquote>As a multi-platform, multi-currency blockchain wallet, over the past many days, we have been flooded with requests to support Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Yesterday, we officially made the decision to work towards full integration.<br /><br />Since Jaxx users are always in control of their private keys, corresponding Bitcoin Cash (BCH) will be safe in your Jaxx wallet. However, please know that you will not be able to access/send/receive your Bitcoin Cash (BCH) until the integration takes place.<br /><br />The process of downloading and indexing the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain is lengthy. We are currently downloading the blockchain and expect indexing to start shortly. The indexing of a blockchain as big as Bitcoin’s has an unknown duration and could take anywhere from a few days to 1 to 2 weeks. You will be then able to claim them once Jaxx fully integrates Bitcoin Cash (BCH) into the wallet.</blockquote><br /><b>Thing Two:</b> Yesterday, Jamie Redman of Bitcoin.com <a href="https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-cash-8mb-block-479469-clears-over-37000-transactions/" target="_blank">reported</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>On August 16 at approximately 8 am EDT the mining pool Bitclub Network mined an 8MB block on the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) blockchain. Block #479469 cleared over 37,000 transactions from the mempool making it the largest block found so far on the BCH chain. Meanwhile, the BCH network continues to capture infrastructure development and industry support.</blockquote><br /><b>Thing Three:</b> As of now, I'm still waiting on Jaxx to "fully integrate Bitcoin Cash into the wallet." Presumably I'm not some outlier awaiting a wallet update that others have already received -- as of three hours ago, the Jaxx area on Reddit had a comment titled <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/jaxx/comments/6u98xc/any_eta_on_bitcoin_cash_support/?st=j6gj04zr&amp;sh=f7af9b52" target="_blank">"Any ETA on bitcoin cash support?"</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/three-things-or-wtf-jaxxio.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-5037915722560404530Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:13:00 +00002017-08-17T08:13:30.172-04:00A Brief Note on Philosophical Debate versus Marketing PracticeOne line I hear frequently in internal libertarian movement debate is that it's entirely possible to be both a bigot and a libertarian. That is, one could conceivably have an aversion to some group (racial, gender/sexual minority, whatever) without advocating for the initiation of force against that group.<br /><br />True as far as it goes, I guess. And it could also be said that it's entirely possible to be a libertarian and also to really like goat feces, diesel fuel, and fire.<br /><br />But I'm betting that if there are media and public inquiries to the Libertarian Party after some idiot rolls around in a mixture of goat feces and diesel fuel, then sets himself on fire in his front yard while screaming "LIBERTARIAN! LIBERTARIAN!" the response is going to be <a href="https://www.lp.org/libertarians-condemn-bigotry-irrational-repugnant/" target="_blank">"yeah, that's not us."</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-brief-note-on-philosophical-debate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-515990968179615743Thu, 17 Aug 2017 10:09:00 +00002017-08-17T06:09:07.376-04:00What do You Want, Erick Erickson, Egg in Your Beer?Short version of <a href="http://theresurgent.com/this-is-not-sustainable-something-has-to-give-the-nation-cannot-tolerate-3-5-more-years-of-this/" target="_blank">his latest</a>:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Nationalism through and through, but</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X02EwkGqyto" width="350"></iframe></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/what-do-you-want-erick-erickson-egg-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-6018743987616906519Thu, 17 Aug 2017 00:10:00 +00002017-08-16T20:10:32.574-04:00I Dreamed I Saw Heather Heyer Last Night<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20430/heather_heyer_picked_her_sideand_joined_a_long_history_of_white_anticapital" target="_blank">Seems she was a Wobbly.</a><br /><br />H/t Steve Trinward.<br /><br /><center><iframe width="350" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n8Kxq9uFDes" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-dreamed-i-saw-heather-heyer-last-night.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-1567553392823232729Wed, 16 Aug 2017 13:38:00 +00002017-08-16T09:39:23.409-04:00Breaking: UF Says No to Richard Spencer SpeechJust forwarded to me:<br /><br /><blockquote>Dear Campus Community:<br /><br />Amid serious concerns for safety, we have decided to deny the National Policy Institute's request to rent event space at the University of Florida.<br /><br />This decision was made after assessing potential risks with campus, community, state and federal law enforcement officials following violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va., and continued calls online and in social media for similar violence in Gainesville such as those decreeing: "The Next Battlefield is in Florida."<br /><br />I find the racist rhetoric of Richard Spencer and white nationalism repugnant and counter to everything the university and this nation stands for.<br /><br />That said, the University of Florida remains unwaveringly dedicated to free speech and the spirit of public discourse. However, the First Amendment does not require a public institution to risk imminent violence to students and others.<br /><br />The likelihood of violence and potential injury - not the words or ideas - has caused us to take this action.<br /><br />Warm Regards,<br />W. Kent Fuchs<br />President<br />University of Florida</blockquote><br /><br />I do not expect that this will stop Spencer from coming to Gainesville and speaking, and he probably has good grounds for a 1st Amendment suit if UF is departing from normal policy here.<br /><br />I expect Spencer to come, and I expect his thug army to arrive with him. In other words, I don't think <a href="http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-think-i-may-be-due-for-climbdown.html" target="_blank">the situation</a> has really changed.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/breaking-uf-says-no-to-richard-spencer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-375339191072616335Wed, 16 Aug 2017 13:09:00 +00002017-08-16T09:09:43.136-04:00OK, My @YesYoureRacist RevealA couple of days ago, I put up <a href="https://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/reader-poll-yesyoureracist.html" target="_blank">a reader poll</a> on "Using Twitter to crowdsource identification of the Charlottesville white nationalists with the intention of getting them fired from their jobs," with a promise to come back later and offer my own response to that poll. Current results:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>1 vote (4%): Yeah, they're fair game, but only because they're racist scumbags.</li><li>16 votes (64%): Yeah, anyone who takes part in a public political action is fair game for being publicly identified with possible negative consequences.</li><li>6 votes (24%): No, that's not cool. You should be able to participate in public life without risking your job, even if you're on the side of evil.</li><li>1 vote (4%): Who cares?</li><li>1 vote (4%): Other, user-created -- "Raise the hate on both sides so that Civil War becomes inevitable."</li></ul><div>I'm personally with the 64% --&nbsp;anyone who takes part in a public political action is fair game for being publicly identified with possible negative consequences. And as I explain in <a href="https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/11266" target="_blank">my latest Garrison Center column</a>, I find the whole&nbsp;@YesYoureRacist project to be a really cool example of how to crowdsource negative social preferencing.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/ok-my-yesyoureracist-reveal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-2227749971161448894Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:03:00 +00002017-08-15T10:03:44.606-04:00Here's Trump's Chance to be a Hero<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/08/taliban-open-letter-trump-urges-leave-afghan-170815052154246.html" target="_blank">From Al Jazeera:</a><br /><br /><blockquote>The Taliban called on President Donald Trump on Tuesday to review the strategy for the war in Afghanistan and to hold peaceful dialogue directly with Afghans instead of engaging "corrupt" politicians.<br /><br />Written in a tone of negotiation, the Taliban asked Trump to study the "historical mistakes" of his predecessors and to withdraw troops from Afghanistan completely.<br /><br />The letter urged the US to interact with Afghans "generously" instead of imposing war.<br /><br />...<br /><br />In a press conference on Monday, US Defense Secretary James Mattis said all options for Afghanistan remained on the table, and a full withdrawal of troops is one of them.<br /><br />Trump has yet to announce a strategy for Afghanistan, but Mattis said one is "very, very close."</blockquote><br />Like Colonel Kilgore said, "someday this war's gonna end."<br /><br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mTLqp-KKuo4" width="350"></iframe></center><br /><br />Mattis is wrong on one thing. It's not going to end in anything resembling "victory" for the US. That option is <em>not</em> on the table.<br /><br />The best-case scenario is for the US to exit Afghanistan on its feet rather than on its knees.<br /><br />If Trump just comes out soon and says "that was a 16-year clusterfuck and I'm putting an end to it," he secures at least one positive legacy.<br /><br />Or, he and/or his successors can keep messing around until it turns into something like this:<br /><br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vj_ImnJrOA0" width="350"></iframe></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/heres-trumps-chance-to-be-hero.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-1657349917628750376Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:59:00 +00002017-08-14T19:01:08.999-04:00Reader Poll: @YesYoureRacistSo, there's <a href="https://twitter.com/yesyoureracist">this</a>. The idea is to identify the white nationalists from Charlottesville and make sure e.g. their employers know what they're up to when they're not mopping floors, servicing septic tanks or designing particle accelerators. What do you think? I'll tell you what I think ... later, in a separate post, so as not to press my own biases.<br /><br /><center><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="https://secure.polldaddy.com/p/9809101.js"></script><br /><noscript><a href="https://polldaddy.com/poll/9809101/">Using Twitter to crowdsource identification of the Charlottesville white nationalists with the intention of getting them fired from their jobs ...</a></noscript></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/reader-poll-yesyoureracist.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-2094950302568360532Mon, 14 Aug 2017 20:26:00 +00002017-08-15T05:13:29.151-04:00I Think I May be Due for a Climbdown ...... on the whole "punch a Nazi" thing.<br /><br />Disclaimer: I'm still a free speech fundamentalist. If some idiot racist knothead wants to get up on a soapbox or a stage and preach his nonsense, I believe he has a right to do just that and that anyone who attempts to forcibly stop him is <i>at least</i>&nbsp;as much an enemy of humanity as he is. On the other hand, there's a good chance I will be found standing nearby with a sign pointing out that he's an idiot, racist, and knothead, which I also have a right to do.<br /><br />Over the last few months I've been told by some -- including some I respect -- that the above position is too lenient, and that to the extent that these idiot racist knotheads are allowed to organize unmolested, they are being empowered to actually pursue their actual goals, e.g. boxcars and gas chambers.<br /><br />There's a respect in which I'm beginning to come around to the possibility that the people telling me that are at least partially right and that I've been at least partially wrong. Here's my current thinking:<br /><br />In February, Augustus Invictus publicly threatened to murder his political opponents (between the 7 and 8 minute mark in this video):<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/opt-d7lE0iM" width="350"></iframe></center><br />A few weeks ago, Augustus Invictus announced, in conspiracy with others, a "March on Charlottesville" to "Unite The Right":<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SiDbGvPnmGw/WZH-E42yNpI/AAAAAAAAF8c/bvDM435wKAw4uu1qZ_HyU1N0OHCS2AT-wCLcBGAs/s1600/UniteTheRightPoster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="350" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SiDbGvPnmGw/WZH-E42yNpI/AAAAAAAAF8c/bvDM435wKAw4uu1qZ_HyU1N0OHCS2AT-wCLcBGAs/s1600/UniteTheRightPoster.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The night before the scheduled march, Augustus Invictus announced, in words and graphics, that his intention was no longer just to hold a "march on" Charlottesville but to fight "The Battle of" Charlottesville:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p1pLyoiU8J0/WZH-3ZBnEXI/AAAAAAAAF8k/1giQY3dekLImRaOkUSG3mNtBM6PROIu_QCLcBGAs/s1600/BattleOfCharlottesville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="350" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p1pLyoiU8J0/WZH-3ZBnEXI/AAAAAAAAF8k/1giQY3dekLImRaOkUSG3mNtBM6PROIu_QCLcBGAs/s1600/BattleOfCharlottesville.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>You've probably heard about what went down in Charlottesville the next day, so I won't belabor it at length. Summary:<br /><br />The people named on the poster above, including Augustus Invictus, came to Charlottesville with an army, looking for a fight, and they got one. One of them even strapped on some testosterone and actually <i>did</i>&nbsp;what Augustus Invictus and his co-conspirators have been&nbsp;<i>threatening</i>, both explicitly and implicitly, to do, murdering a 32-year-old woman in the street. Of course, now they're pulling their typical identity politics schtick about how they're really the victims in all this, but the record is pretty clear.<br /><br />Now, one of of Augustus Invictus's co-conspirators, Richard Spencer, <a href="http://www.alligator.org/news/campus/article_133078a6-7fd5-11e7-a274-4fcd5c1d7f33.html" target="_blank">is coming to my town</a>&nbsp;(I'll be surprised if Augustus doesn't show up as well).<br /><br />I remain a free speech fundamentalist. I respect Spencer's right to babble nonsense in public and will, to the extent I'm able, defend that right.<br /><br />But I rather expect that he's going to show up with a gaggle of morons in tow, sporting their gang colors and implements -- helmets, baseball bats, swastika flags, etc. -- and looking for a fight.<br /><br />I plan to be among the natives waiting here to greet said gaggle of morons. And based on what happened in Charlottesville, I'm of the eminently reasonable belief that they intend to engage in the use of unlawful force and the commission of forcible felonies, and that they represent a threat of imminent death or great bodily harm to others present.<br /><br />Gee, that language sounds familiar. I wonder where I've heard it before?<br /><br /><blockquote><b>Florida Statute 776.012: Use or threatened use of force in defense of person</b><br /><br />(1) A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force.<br /><br />(2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.</blockquote><br />If it's trouble they're looking for, they probably shouldn't expect to get off quite so smart and easy in Gainesville as they did in Charlottesville.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Note: I'm told that the word "climbdown" in the title may be unfamiliar or, due to multiple definitions, confusing. I'm using it to mean <a href="http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&amp;Database=*&amp;Query=climbdown" target="_blank">"a retraction of a previously held position."</a></b></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-think-i-may-be-due-for-climbdown.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-1990809789915743700Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:09:00 +00002017-08-12T21:45:54.273-04:00Congratulations to Christopher Cantwell<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fights-in-advance-of-saturday-protest-in-charlottesville/2017/08/12/155fb636-7f13-11e7-83c7-5bd5460f0d7e_story.html" target="_blank">He finally made the Washington <i>Post</i>!</a> Photo 6 of 9 up top. Caption: "An officer helps a white nationalist after tear gas was sprayed." I'm sure several friends of mine will enjoy seeing that (not that they would likely look any better after going unmasked in a cloud of CS -- I've had that pleasure many times). &nbsp;Face crop:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30Lvpe9aEIU/WY79DhAWncI/AAAAAAAAF74/ARV0x865BTYtMlsj21gM2bGJMNXgxUKCwCLcBGAs/s1600/cantwellcries.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="128" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-30Lvpe9aEIU/WY79DhAWncI/AAAAAAAAF74/ARV0x865BTYtMlsj21gM2bGJMNXgxUKCwCLcBGAs/s1600/cantwellcries.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br />In photo 3 of 9, is that Ryan Ramsey of Florida taking a selfie there on the left? [<b>Update: </b>Ramsey says it's not him and that he wouldn't treat a tiki torch that way]&nbsp;I can't tell and I'm thinking probably not (he and his wife just had a new baby a couple of days ago), but inquiring minds do want to know:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOcpHdrtyvc/WY799ZV-9CI/AAAAAAAAF8A/583Y3UkE18gL2VQ2iRzWbMRI92H5hGZtwCLcBGAs/s1600/mayberamsey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="129" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lOcpHdrtyvc/WY799ZV-9CI/AAAAAAAAF8A/583Y3UkE18gL2VQ2iRzWbMRI92H5hGZtwCLcBGAs/s1600/mayberamsey.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><b>Update --</b>Hat tip to the aforementioned Ryan Ramsey (who doesn't seem to be in Virginia) for &nbsp;this ...<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QAk6szYQ-bM" width="350"></iframe></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/congratulations-to-christopher-cantwell.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-8593587879758024597Fri, 11 Aug 2017 21:01:00 +00002017-08-11T17:01:17.093-04:00I Wonder ...I don't have my copy of Frederick Pohl's autobiography&nbsp;<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Way-Future-Was-Memoir/dp/0345277147" target="_blank">The Way The Future Was</a></i>&nbsp;handy (I assume it's still packed away from the move nearly five years ago as many, many, many books are), so I have to relate this from memory and it may not completely correct:<br /><br />During World War Two, before Pohl managed to get into the military (he started trying right after Pearl Harbor, kept getting turned down, then got <i>drafted</i>&nbsp;and became an Army Air Corps meteorologist in Italy), he was working for one of the big editors (probably John W. Campbell) on one of the pulp magazines (probably <i>Astounding</i>), and ran a story featuring an atomic bomb.<br /><br />Most ricky-tick, FBI agents showed up to find out who knew what, and how they'd found it out. Of course, no one knew anything. It was just science fiction, for the love of Pete. So the feds grumbled and demanded to be contacted before any more of this atomic bomb stuff got published and went away.<br /><br />If the atomic bomb was just being invented today, right now, and a story like that got published, would the author/editor/publisher end up wearing a hood and shackles en route to some black site, or would FDR/Trump have a public meltdown about treasonous leaks, or would the whole thing just get ignored and/or dismissed as bizarre fiction and/or conspiracy theory?<br /><br />FYI, Pohl's book is a great memoir &nbsp;both of early science fiction fandom and of being a Depression-era rank and file American member of the Communist Party.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/i-wonder.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-6734477274080028902Fri, 11 Aug 2017 12:56:00 +00002017-08-11T08:58:00.727-04:00Nothing New Under The Sun?I'm reading <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TRUMBO-Bruce-Cook-ebook/dp/B00US1STWC/" target="_blank">Bruce Cook's biography of Dalton Trumbo</a> (which formed the basis for, and was re-released as a tie-in for, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Trumbo-Bryan-Cranston/dp/B018MOP8ZW" target="_blank">the superb eponymous film</a> starring Bryan Cranston). This morning, while reading over the day's second cup of coffee, I came across this:<br /><br /><blockquote>[Trumbo, as editor of the <em>Screen Writer</em>] insisted, perhaps a little disingenuously, that his only standards were literary quality, general relevance, and respect for the [Screen Writers] Guild and its policies and objectives. Richard Macaulay, a screenwriter of conservative leanings and a vigorous anti-Communist, put him to the test with an article, "Who Censors What?" on movie content which was in rebuttal to an earlier piece by Alvah Bessie. As editor, Trumbo rejected Macaulay's article, taking the same shaky position that Herbert Marcuse would two decades later, as he argued, "It is difficult to support your belief in the 'inalienable right' of man's mind to be exposed to any thought whatever, however intolerable that thought might be to 'anyone else.' Frequently such a right encroaches upon the right of others to their lives. It was this 'inalienable right' in Fascist countries which directly resulted in the slaughter of five million Jews.'"</blockquote><br />Sounds a lot like the same action/justification as the formal "no platform" policies popular on what's passed for "the left" since the 1970s (once they'd taken full advantage of the '60s Free Speech Movement, etc. to firmly establish their <em>own</em> platform access) and at present by e.g. Antifa groups, doesn't it?<br /><br />Of course, the right-wing blacklist campaign that hit Trumbo and many of his friends a few years after the incident above was a variation on the same theme -- a variation that seems to be popping up again in tech and other fields, albeit from the putative "left" and without the HUAC-style fireworks (to the extent that there's government influence, it's mostly in the use of general federal equal opportunity regulations as cover for sanctions and dismissals <i>a la </i>James Damore at Google).<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/nothing-new-under-sun.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-3201805960345378298Thu, 10 Aug 2017 16:34:00 +00002017-08-10T12:34:57.875-04:00Apropos of Nothing in Particular ...Anecdotally, it seems to me that whenever I come across the word "discourse" near the beginning of an essay, there's a far better than even chance that I'm about to read some bullshit.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/apropos-of-nothing-in-particular.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-8923418055457410289Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:36:00 +00002017-08-10T09:37:14.444-04:00They Keep Using That Phrase, "Net Neutrality." I do Not Think it Means What They Think it Means.I'm not quite sure how I got on <b><a href="https://demandprogress.org/" target="_blank">Demand Progress</a></b>'s email list. Maybe I subscribed to it to track this or that political issue, or maybe someone subscribed me to it without my knowledge. Either way, while I don't mind getting their emails, I can pretty reliably predict that those emails will be full of fail. Like this:<br /><br /><blockquote>Dear Thomas,<br /><br /><b>Verizon Wireless was just caught in the act of what looks like a blatant violation net neutrality.</b><br /><br />Last week, without warning or permission from its customers, Verizon throttled bandwidth speeds down to 10Mbs. Users trying to stream video or use certain apps were caught in an internet slow lane and couldn't do anything about it.</blockquote><br />This doesn't look like a violation of "Net Neutrality" to me. In fact, it looks like an <i>implementation</i> of "Net Neutrality." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality" target="_blank">Per Wikipedia:</a><br /><br /><blockquote><b>Net neutrality</b> is the principle that Internet service providers and governments regulating the Internet must treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.</blockquote><br />If Verizon had reduced its speeds <i>only for particular content</i>&nbsp;-- say, Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video only got 10Mbs speeds while Bing, Gmail, &nbsp;and the Hamster Dance got 20Mbs speeds -- well, <i>that</i>&nbsp;would be a violation of "Net Neutrality."<br /><br />But simply moving all data from all sources in the same way and presumptively at the same speeds is precisely what "Net Neutrality" calls for. And if that means that someone streaming Rogue One in high definition gets a choppy picture? Well, that's how it goes -- their data got treated exactly like the data going to the user checking her email and the junior high kid spanking the monkey to <a href="http://www.vogue.com/article/chelsea-manning-vogue-interview-september-issue-2017" target="_blank">Chelsea Manning's <i>Vogue</i>&nbsp;swimsuit pic</a>&nbsp;(not being a junior high kid, I actually read the accompanying article, of course).<br /><br />So suck it, "Net Neutrality" megalomaniacs. You demanded it, you got it.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/they-keep-using-that-phrase-net.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-9205993607172165723Wed, 09 Aug 2017 10:12:00 +00002017-08-09T06:14:22.614-04:00A Fairly Safe Prediction, I Think ...Open US military operations versus North Korea within ~30 days.<br /><br />Why I think so:<br /><br />First, while it's easy to discount Trump's outbursts, his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/world/asia/north-korea-un-sanctions-nuclear-missile-united-nations.html" target="_blank">"fire and fury and frankly power"</a>&nbsp;"if [North Korea] does not stop threatening the United States"* statement <span id="goog_206707628"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_206707629"></span>yesterday is coupled with the leaking of "intelligence" -- actually preparatory propaganda -- intended to justify just that. From the WaPo story linked above:<br /><br /><blockquote>Trump's statement also followed a report in The Washington Post that North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its ballistic missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power. The report quoted a confidential assessment by U.S. intelligence officials.</blockquote><br />In actuality, 1) North Korea still seems to be at the stage of producing bulky fission weapons; 2) the recent claims (from both Pyongyang and DC) that the North has developed an ICBM capable of reaching US targets seem pretty sketchy; and 3) even if the North <em>has</em> produced real nukes (fusion weapons) and even if the North <em>does</em> now theoretically have the capacity to hit the US with missiles, miniaturizing those hypothetical nukes and mating them with those hypothetical missiles and expecting them to detonate at the far end of an arc taking them to the edge of space is another giant leap.<br /><br />Secondly, I've previously predicted that in the event of such a conflict, the Chinese regime will be tuned up and ready for an invitation from the North's military to intervene as "peacekeepers" after a brief US air war and the collapse of the Kim regime. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4771190/China-fires-dozens-missiles-strength.html" target="_blank">They seem to be rattling sabers as prelude to such a scheme.</a><br /><br />As I've previously predicted, I don't think a US ground invasion of the North is part of the plan. For one thing, that would take a major, highly visible, time-consuming ramp-up. The North would likely decide to kick things off themselves long before the US gets its ginormous mass of troops, tanks, etc. landed and in position.<br /><br />What US ground combat there is will take place along the 38th parallel "demilitarized zone" (which of course means the opposite of what its name implies). That will get ugly, and there will be casualties, but I don't expect the North to be able to wreck, let alone occupy, Seoul as some people like to predict -- some artillery/rocket fire at extreme range in the first hours, trailing off as the North's guns are turned into twisted piles of metal by US air and artillery, if they don't run out of ammunition first (resupply won't be happening).<br /><br />The US, from the air, will first of all destroy any and all ballistic missile and/or atomic sites it knows of (and it knows of most, if not all, of them), followed by C<sup>3</sup>I (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) targets and road/transportation targets. The first objective will be to make it impossible for the North's military to function as an offensive force at the DMZ or outside the Korean peninsula. The second will be to make the North's military come apart at the seams in general. And the third will be to ensure that the Kim regime loses any ability to direct its military forces, presumably culminating in one or more generals deciding that it's time to march Kim Jong Un and friends around back for a bullet party right before asking Beijing to come in and restore order.<br /><br />Obviously, the more detailed predictions above are more risky than the one in the first sentence. But I think it's coming soon, and I do think that's how it will go ... now let's see whether or not I'm right so I can either crow or eat crow (frankly I'd much rather do the latter on this one).<br /><br />* It's worth noting the content of the "threats" Trump cites as reason for his own threats. To wit (WaPo op. cit.):<br /><br /><blockquote>North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told diplomats that his country will never negotiate away what he called a rational "strategic option" against the threat of attack from the United States.</blockquote><br />Bombast notwithstanding, the North's "threat" is that it will defend itself if attacked and that it will build and maintain a nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to attack.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/a-fairly-safe-prediction-i-think.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-2493707692806899266Tue, 01 Aug 2017 14:26:00 +00002017-08-01T10:26:07.117-04:00Everything Old is New AgainOK, so maybe not everything. But for the first time, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074FXZN2J/" target="_blank"><i style="font-weight: bold;">KN@PPSTER's Big Freakin' Book of Stuff</i>&nbsp;is available in an Amazon Kindle edition</a>, thanks to one of the early pioneers of e-books, J Neil Schulman.<br /><br />When I first published the book in print/epub/mobi/PDF versions, I tried to tickle the funny bones of would-be entrepreneurs by noting that it was in the public domain, that anyone could do anything they liked with it, and that it was not available on Amazon. Nobody took the bait. I finally talked Neil into it, and thank him for making it happen.<br /><br />If you haven't read the book, or if you have read it but would like it for your Kindle, hey, it's only $1.99, and I'm aware that <a href="http://jneilschulman.rationalreview.com/2017/07/submission/" target="_blank">Neil could use the money</a>. So read a pretty good book and help a movement hero out at the same time.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/everything-old-is-new-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-8725193442817911627Tue, 01 Aug 2017 10:35:00 +00002017-08-01T06:35:51.998-04:00The User Activated Hard Fork is About to Happen ...... here in a couple of hours, although there will be dislocations/issues early on. Bitcoin is going to split into BTC (Bitcoin) and BCC (Bitcoin Cash).<br /><br />To the extent that I "go long" (I have very little cryptocurrency), my plan is to probably do so on BCC. Here's why:<br /><br />Regular old Bitcoin is going to implement a "solution" (Segregated Witness) to a problem that's entirely artificial, created by "Big Mining" to preserve its big take at the expense of the cryptocurrency becoming slower and more expensive to use than it should have become.<br /><br />Bitcoin Cash is going to solve that "problem" by doing exactly what its creator envisioned (increasing the block size so that transactions can get back to being processed quickly and cheaply).<br /><br />It's not so much that I <i>expect</i>&nbsp;Bitcoin Cash to "win" as that I want it to, because I want a working cryptocurrency -- something I'll eventually be able to use to buy a Coke at a convenience store. If either of these two currencies might become that, I think Bitcoin Cash is the one to bet on.<br /><br />I <i>do</i>&nbsp;expect BCC to almost immediately crash in price and BTC to gain -- and if I can move fast enough and predict the equation well enough to take advantage of that, I will be exchanging my BTC for BCC. Because in the long term, I expect BCC to do well, regardless of how BTC does.<br /><br />If you think BCC is crap and is going to quickly become worthless, I encourage you to donate yours to me -- as soon as <a href="http://jaxx.io/" target="_blank">my preferred wallet</a> starts taking BCC, I'll get a QR code up for you to do so :) You can, of course, send me regular old BTC via the right sidebar already.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-user-activate-hard-fork-is-about-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-3067396176684582853Mon, 31 Jul 2017 20:11:00 +00002017-07-31T16:11:30.248-04:00Ten Days That Shook the West Wing ...<b><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40782299" target="_blank">Scaramucci's out.</a></b><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/ten-days-that-shook-west-wing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-7778113578458796225Sat, 29 Jul 2017 15:17:00 +00002017-07-29T11:17:10.038-04:00How to Double Your Cryptocurrency (or, How to Not Lose Half Your Cryptocurrency)This is NOT a technical piece on the likely coming "fork" of Bitcoin. Rather, it's just a very quick explainer on how to protect yourself and/or possibly make out well from that stuff.<br /><br />The quick and dirty: On August 1st, what you now know as "Bitcoin" will become two currencies: Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCC). This is happening because most of the Bitcoin community has agreed to implement something called Segwit 2x, while a minority have decided to go in a different direction by increasing the block size.<br /><br />When this "hard fork" happens, <i>under certain circumstances</i>, your Bitcoin will "double" in a sense. That is, if you currently have one Bitcoin (1.0 BTC), you will suddenly have one Bitcoin (1.0 BTC) <i>and</i>&nbsp;one Bitcoin Cash (1.0 BCC).<br /><br />Here's the <i>under certain circumstances</i>:<br /><br />If your Bitcoin is in an online exchange AND that exchange supports both currencies, you should have equal amounts of each at the point where they split (if it doesn't, presumably your BCC will disappear, possibly into a wallet owned by that exchange, possibly not, but either way, you only have the one currency, and only have as much as you had of it).<br /><br />Or, better yet, if you keep your Bitcoin in a walled <i>to which you have the keys</i>, you will definitely be able to manifest equal balances of each at point of fork.<br /><br />I recommend the latter course. There are numerous wallets which allow the user to control/possess his or her own keys. Get one <i>now</i>&nbsp;and get your BTC moved into it before August 1st. I personally use and recommend <a href="https://jaxx.io/" target="_blank">the <b>Jaxx</b>&nbsp;wallet</a>. The folks at Jaxx have not yet said whether they'll be supporting Bitcoin Cash, but it doesn't matter -- since the keys are yours, if they don't you can just plug your keys into a wallet that DOES support BCC after the fork happens.<br /><br />Now, the VALUE of your cryptocurrency will not necessarily double. It could be that one or the other currencies will crash in value after the fork if most people don't want to mess with one of them. My perception is that most people expect moneyBTC to continue to be the premier cryptocurrency and BCC to likely fade away fairly quickly. But heck, as long as you CAN have both at no additional expense to yourself, it only makes sense to do so.<br /><br />I've tried to keep this simple, and I'm not going to get into which currency I expect to better or why, or whether I prefer the BTC solution (Segwit 2x, which in theory eventually increases block size) or the BCC solution (massive increase in block size). The ONLY point of this post is to let you know that if you have Bitcoin in an online exchange and do not control the keys to your wallet, you should take care of that NOW to protect, and possibly enrich, yourself.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/how-to-double-your-cryptocurrency-or.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-5939665892525746156Thu, 27 Jul 2017 11:53:00 +00002017-07-27T07:56:16.082-04:00The Transgender Double Bind Works to Trump's AdvantageFirst, three disclaimers:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>I do not consider any gender identification to be an illness (physical or mental) or disability (unless it is intentionally <i>made so</i>&nbsp;by e.g. discrimination).</li><li>I do not consider sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity to be a legitimate criterion for discrimination by government as such, including when it comes to standards for serving in the armed forces; either the prospective recruit can do the job, or not, and that's all that should matter. But on the other hand ...</li><li>I don't have a lot of sympathy for a desire to join the armed forces. Like Smedley Butler said, war is a racket. The armed forces of the world's various states are the sharp pointy ends of the global sticks wielded by violent criminal gangs.</li></ul><br />So, all that said, what we have here is a variant of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_bind" target="_blank">"double bind"</a>:<br /><br /><blockquote>A double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, and one message negates the other. This creates a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other (and vice versa), so that the person will automatically be wrong regardless of response.</blockquote><br />The "individual (or group)" caught in the "dilemma" here is the transgender community, and the double bind is a result not of receiving, but of sending, two conflicting messages. The result is not so much that they are "wrong," but rather that any response to the conflicting messages <i>can plausibly be treated as the right response</i>.<br /><br />Message one: Gender identity is a social convention and there's no inherent problem with any gender identity. That is (for example -- there are lots of possible permutations), a person who was born with the biological/anatomical characteristics of a "male," but who identifies and presents publicly as a "female," is not defective, broken, sick, etc. The person just happens to be outside the middle, "normal" range of the bell curve representing gender identity. No biggie unless you're some kind of bigot.<br /><br />Message two: "Gender dysphoria" -- a self-perceived disconnect between biological/anatomical characteristics and gender identity -- &nbsp;is a <i>medical condition </i>for which <i>treatment</i>&nbsp;(including but not limited to psychological counseling, hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery) is appropriate.<br /><br />Message two gives Donald Trump, as well as military leaders who, for whatever reason, don't want transgender people in the ranks of the armed forces, an out. If it is a <i>medical condition</i>, it is a <b><i>PRE-EXISTING</i></b> medical condition. And the armed forces have&nbsp;<i>always</i>&nbsp;rejected people with pre-existing medical conditions that might represent either a handicap for the recruit in accomplishing the mission or an extra expense or problem for the military in addressing. You're not going to get into the military with cancer or hepatitis or paraplegia.<br /><br />If trans people want to join the armed forces (as noted in the disclaimer above, I hope they don't, because I hope <i>nobody</i>&nbsp;does), they're going to need to give up the claim that gender identity implies illness, and the demand that the military let them in while they're ill and then spend money on treating their illness.<br /><br />Of course, there's a <i>reason</i>&nbsp;for claims of "gender dysphoria as a medical condition" in the first place and that reason is, as you might guess, the state. One cannot legally self-prescribe hormones or procure sex reassignment surgery without going through the state's insanely expensive medical monopolies on doctoring, dispensing drugs, etc. You can only get those things -- and get them covered by "insurance" -- if they're <i>treatment</i>&nbsp;for something. Otherwise, dealing with a "gender dysphoria" problem would likely be no more expensive than maintaining a cigarette habit and/or getting an expensive tattoo (things that people do all the time both before and after joining the armed forces).<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-transgender-double-bind-works-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-3985459400164848041Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:43:00 +00002017-07-25T20:43:48.258-04:00I'm Sure You Know This, But Just in Case You Don't ...When the Washington <i>Post</i> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-could-cross-icbm-threshold-next-year-us-officials-warn-in-new-assessment/2017/07/25/4107dc4a-70af-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html" target="_blank">reports</a> that ...<br /><br /><blockquote>North Korea will be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year, U.S. officials have concluded in a confidential assessment that dramatically shrinks the timeline for when Pyongyang could strike North American cities with atomic weapons. ... The DIA has concluded that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be able to produce a "reliable, nuclear-capable ICBM" program sometime in 2018, meaning that by next year the program will have advanced from prototype to assembly line, according to officials familiar with the document.</blockquote><br />... what the <i>Post</i>&nbsp;is <i>really</i>&nbsp;reporting is that we're being prepped with propaganda to justify a US attack on North Korea.<br /><br />That doesn't mean the attack will happen. It just means that we're being conditioned to accept it as absolutely, regrettably necessary if it <i>does</i>&nbsp;happen, in exactly the same way and for exactly the same reasons that we were told about Kuwaiti babies being thrown out of their incubators in 1990, Saddam having a chemical weapons program circa 2003, Iran being within six months of having a nuclear weapon (for 20 years running), etc.<br /><br />My best guess:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>North Korea probably doesn't even have a true nuclear weapon yet. They've tested some old-timey fission weapons like those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Max yield, 30 kilotons at the outside. Will they get a real nuke in the next year? I suppose it's possible, but I wouldn't count on it. A fission weapon is pretty forgiving. If you mash two pieces of fissile material together hard and fast enough, in a fairly simple container, you'll get the fission chain reaction you want. An H-bomb is orders of magnitude more complicated. A whole bunch of stuff has to happen in exactly the right order, at exactly at the right time, and within very narrow measurements, for the thing to work.</li><li>Even if North Korea <i>does</i>&nbsp;have a working fusion weapon (unlikely) and even if North Korea <i>&nbsp;does </i>have a missile capable of reaching the US (not terribly unlikely but not certain either), putting those two things together and expecting the former to detonate successfully at the end of the latter's flight isn't a task on complexity par with changing the oil in a 1966 Impala. It's complicated too.</li><li>Pegging the likelihood that North Korea will be able to "field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile" and the nuke to put on it by next year at one in a million is wildly optimistic (from their perspective).</li></ul><div>The "assessment" is moonshine, and the "leak" is one of the pre-approved ones I allude to in <a href="https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/11043" target="_blank">today's Garrison Center column</a>. The entire purpose of both is <a href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hlmencke101109.html" target="_blank">practical politics <i>a la</i> HL Mencken</a>.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/im-sure-you-know-this-but-just-in-case.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-4019295979652565018Mon, 24 Jul 2017 22:14:00 +00002017-07-24T19:36:05.090-04:00A Brief Musing on the Prospective Role of Capital Punishment as Imposed by Non-State ActorsI am, generally speaking, opposed to capital punishment as it is used by the state.To my mind it violates any reasonable conception of "limited government." What's "limited" about the legal power engage in the leisurely, cold-blooded, unnecessary killing of a disarmed prisoner? That kind of power of life and death is <i>un</i>limited government in my opinion.<br /><br />I <i>do</i>&nbsp;support the death penalty for violent crimes, if administered at the time and scene of the crime, by the victim or someone plausibly acting on the victim's behalf, based on reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm if they don't kill the attacker.<br /><br />But lately I'm thinking about a different sort of death penalty. This sort would be administered by non-state actors, and only semi-discriminately in that anyone involved in the criminal conspiracy known as "the state" would be subject to it as required to correct or retaliate for violent state criminal action.<br /><br />To wit, I believe that denizens of the "Dark Web" and other unauthorized entrepreneurs would be justified in notifying the US government that there <i>will </i>be lethal consequences to actions like:<br /><br /><br /><ul><li>The abduction of Ross Ulbricht for (absent successful appeal or clemency) two life terms plus 40 years without the possibility of parole for the "crime" of operating a web site without state permission; or</li><li>The death (allegedly a suicide) of alleged Alphabay founder Alexandre Cazes in Thai custody pursuant to an extradition request by the United States.</li></ul><div>The problem here is that &nbsp;it would be difficult to set up a successful operation to arrest, try and incarcerate someone like US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Andrew G McCabe or US District Court judge Katherine Forrest for their crimes against humanity. Or, for that matter, to arrest, try and incarcerate <i>anyone</i>, especially members of the world's largest criminal gang, the US government. So the only really <i>available</i>&nbsp;penalty is death.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, there's no "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" problem when it comes to that gang. By definition, its employees are all parties to conspiracy to commit the crimes that the gang commits, and for the most part they do not hide their identities or the fact that they <i>are</i>&nbsp;functionaries of said gang. So any random conspirator could be easily identified and selected to bear the brunt of the penalty.</div><div><br /></div><div>What I have in mind is some sort of Dark Web Security Consortium with a judicial body and an enforcement arm, funded by contributions from the entrepreneurs (maybe a "please fund this" voluntary add-on of a fraction of a percent on each transaction), that adjudicates incidents, passes sentence, and funds execution of said sentence (perhaps through a Jim Bell <a href="http://www.outpost-of-freedom.com/jimbellap.htm" target="_blank">"Assassination Politics"</a> style prediction market if a particular culprit is sentenced, perhaps in some other way like the "pick a random conspirator or conspirators" approach). The consortium goes into action when the US government criminally assaults any consortium member (and possibly even non-members if the case comes to the consortium's notice).</div><div><br /></div><div>Something like this:</div><div><br /></div><div>The next time a Ross Ulbricht is arrested, the consortium notifies the US Department of Justice that if bail is denied, one US government employee of GS-5 or lower rank, said employee to be selected randomly or at opportunity, will be executed.</div><div><br /></div><div>As the stakes increase (obviously fixed trial, insane sentence, etc.), the number and rank of conspirators to be executed increases incrementally, with due advance notice to the Department of Justice at each step that if DoJ buys the ticket, US government employees are going to take the ride.</div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, if this consortium comes into existence and threatens to take those actions, they're going to have to follow through and actually put those .22 bullets in those skulls. Holding the state's actors accountable for their crimes ain't beanbag. But it looks like it's ceasing to be an option and starting to become an imperative.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/a-brief-musing-on-prospective-role-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-647816619891511752Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:13:00 +00002017-07-24T08:13:24.854-04:00... And He's BackSorry for the week-long absence, guys.<br /><br />My father died early last Monday evening, and I headed down to Tampa that night to catch an early morning flight to Missouri.<br /><br />I had planned on blogging at least a little while I was up there, but various factors made that difficult.<br /><br />Of course, there was a funeral to help prepare for, and the funeral itself, and so forth.<br /><br />Instead of the usual hotel with wi-fi, I stayed with my mother. That mean using a cell phone "hot spot" for Internet access, and since someone else pays for that data, I didn't want to use it any more than absolutely necessary. In addition to which, I thought paying attention to Mom was more important than paying attention to y'all at the moment. Nothing personal, understand. Just a matter of priorities. Last week, she got top slot at your expense. I trust you understand.<br /><br />So, I'll get back with the blogging now.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/and-hes-back.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-6077910672198823700Mon, 17 Jul 2017 22:27:00 +00002017-07-17T18:27:38.444-04:00Donald L. Knapp, August 23, 1933 - July 17, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_q6dHergOfQ/WW04DgtrCGI/AAAAAAAAF3c/99ggH-wHFDsff4io3L9ayKVgU2olG89qQCLcBGAs/s1600/dadwithbassfiddle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="178" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_q6dHergOfQ/WW04DgtrCGI/AAAAAAAAF3c/99ggH-wHFDsff4io3L9ayKVgU2olG89qQCLcBGAs/s1600/dadwithbassfiddle.jpg" /></a></div>Got the call a few minutes ago. I knew it was coming. That doesn't make it any easier.<br /><br />He taught me my first guitar chords. He taught me how to change the oil in my 1966 Impala. He taught me the meaning of work, and he was an expert at that. He did whatever it took to keep a roof over my head, a shirt on my back, and food on my plate and to get me out into the world equipped to survive.<br /><br />No, he wasn't perfect. But it seemed like the older I got the smarter he got, until one day he was old and not quite as tall or as strong any more as I'd once thought he was.<br /><br />He was my dad.<br /><br />I miss him.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/donald-l-knapp-august-23-1933-july-17.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8483866.post-5381292247784087521Mon, 17 Jul 2017 16:59:00 +00002017-07-17T12:59:54.926-04:00podcastsThanks For Asking!Thanks For Asking! -- 07/17/17Sponsor message from Paul Stanton:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: &quot;trebuchet ms&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif;">All politics is local. &nbsp;Without local organization, state and national candid</span><span style="font-family: &quot;trebuchet ms&quot; , &quot;verdana&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif;">ates cannot be successful.</span></b></span></div><br />Ask me anything (<i>anything</i>) in comments below this post. I'll answer in comments, on the podcast, or both.<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="197" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wtrH7l_ygcA" width="350"></iframe></center><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://thegarrisoncenter.org" target="_blank"><b>Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!</b></a></div>http://knappster.blogspot.com/2017/07/thanks-for-asking-071717.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Thomas Knapp)0